July 22, 2015 * 12-night Northern European Cruise!

[redcoral33]

The prices are starting to increase on this cruise, you may get it cheaper in Alaska but that's a while yet depends on more booking, No blackout dates for Europe on OBB at this time. Celestine and her husband Reading FC are organising the transfer. They did it in 2010 and many joined them.


You will love Alaska have a look at my link below for details and photos on my 2013 trip there.


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Thanks for the info. I figure if OBB doesn't work out well for this Baltic cruise, I'll shop for the another future cruise.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Thanks for the info. I figure if OBB doesn't work out well for this Baltic cruise, I'll shop for the another future cruise.

Good luck with it.

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[Deb T.]

Wowzers! This Meets Thread is growing FAST!

Keeping the First Page updated has been a challenge! (Life gets in the way, sometimes.) In the process, I'm not sure if everyone has received an "official" warm welcome to this thread! As the OP, I feel somewhat responsible, and will try to do a better job from here going forward. So, to all of you, I'd like to say WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE! We are an amazing group already! Yay! I love it that we have many countries represented, especially some local European experts who can provide lots of valuable planning information! To all of you, I say, "Thanks in advance"! It's going to be a great cruise!

Melcatfish!
disfamilyfun!
BethieTink!
The Wombles!
mousemom11!
DisneySpirit!
ElizCanning!
TexasGolfDad!
krisinparis!
*Bambi-Bell*!

 

[Deb T.]

mum&son!
LynnTarrant!
ctnurse!
Celestine!
ReadingFC!
DISNEY FANTASY!
mindelmouse!
wvuflu!
HAMLIE!
ynspire!

 

[Deb T.]

kayochan!
kmc33!
pennymike!
KatieG73!
CJCPixieDust!
redcoral33!
Oh yeah, and me (Deb T.)!


I do promise to keep the First Page updated as often as humanly possible. I work a full-time job and we travel out-of-town at least two weekends a month. Please bear with me as, sometimes, it may be a day or two before new DISers are added to the First Page and officially welcomed.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Thank you for the welcome it's been a hectic few days since release.

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[redcoral33]

Thanks for starting this thread. it's got a lot of good information posted already. Looking forward to read more.

 

[mum&son]

Wow what a group of us already so helps to the excitement

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Wow what a group of us already so helps to the excitement

Agree.

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[The Wombles]

Deb, I don't envy you the task of keeping track of everyone so thanks for taking it on and the welcome. You doing a great job

Welcome to everyone so far, I notice that this thread has remained close to the top of this forum since it started which must be a good measure of everyone's enthusiasm. I also personally learning loads already which will make this a fantastic cruise.

It's great to make contact with so many people already, I'm really enjoying the planning.

 

[ReadingFC]

Just to let you all know, Celestine is away with work until friday evening. if you PM her ref London - Dover bus transfer you probably won't hear back until Saturday morning.

Interest in the bus so far has been good, the more we get the cheaper it becomes...Looking forward to meeting everyone on the trip down and onboard the Magic

 

[Jon G]

We are joining you on this cruise.

Jon, Maria and Lauren (15)

We are staying on for the Dover to Barcelona 7 night just to make sure I get a tan!!

Jon.

 

[krisinparis]

On the FB group which I joined last week there are plenty of previous Baltic cruisers and also people from the UK, all of which have posted important local and cruise information, one of the party has offered to organise a UK coach from London to Dover on the day of the cruise to save money. It's worth looking at it.

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Just checked- yes, there is lots of good info there! I will have to try and do a better job of keeping up with it.

 

[mousemom11]

I booked this cruise on opening day. It will be the 3 of us with DH and DD (will be 12). This will be our 8th DCL cruise. We did the 12-day Med cruise in 2013, loved it. So happy DCL decided to offer Baltic cruise in 2015. We will be going on DCL Alaskan cruise this summer, hoping to re-shop for OBB. But I've seen some posts mentioning about block out dates, so hopefully this Baltic cruise is not blocked out for OBB offer. I would be interested in ride sharing to Dover.

We are joining you on this cruise.

Jon, Maria and Lauren (15)

We are staying on for the Dover to Barcelona 7 night just to make sure I get a tan!!

Jon.

Jon, my daughters will be 16 and 14 when we sail and love to make new friends onboard.

 

[tink too]

Hi All!

I put a hold on this cruise on Thursday, and just went ahead and paid the deposit. I'm not sure if we will definitely be taking this cruise yet though - I'll have to see what my DH thinks once we gets home from work.

This would be our 5th DCL cruise (if we sail - fingers crossed!) - so far we've done a WBPC, WBTA, the Fantasy MV and a 7 night Alaskan cruise. If we will be keeping the booking, I'll update with more details and will join the FB page and maybe the FE as well.

 

[mousemom11]

Hi All!

I put a hold on this cruise on Thursday, and just went ahead and paid the deposit. I'm not sure if we will definitely be taking this cruise yet though - I'll have to see what my DH thinks once we gets home from work.

This would be our 5th DCL cruise (if we sail - fingers crossed!) - so far we've done a WBPC, WBTA, the Fantasy MV and a 7 night Alaskan cruise. If we will be keeping the booking, I'll update with more details and will join the FB page and maybe the FE as well.

Here's hoping that you keep the booking!

 

[Deb T.]

We are joining you on this cruise.

Jon, Maria and Lauren (15)

We are staying on for the Dover to Barcelona 7 night just to make sure I get a tan!!

Jon.

Jon G.

I'm envious that you will get to stay onboard another seven nights! You can watch as I go... kicking, screaming, and crying as my DH drags me off the ship at the end of this cruise!

In all seriousness, I do love being onboard, especially on the longer cruises. I am NEVER ready to get off the ship!!!

 

[Deb T.]

tink,too Here's pixiedust that your DH will be agreeable!

 

[abayaflowers]

PS I know London very very well, I live and work there and my job takes me all over London each and every day.

A couple of points to consider.

Do not book hotels near CrossRail construction as whilst they limit noise there will be disruption until 2018, so avoid Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Paddington, Farringdon.

Dover is about 80 miles from Central London, and the same from the nearest main hub airport of Gatwick, it's a 100 miles from our main London airport Heathrow.

DCL did as you see put on coaches and many people preferred these for connivance, they however were very expensive.

I drove there I live 75 miles away by direct route. There is a small car hire place but a walk from the terminal, see later, and couldn't cope with many people requesting cars or dropping off.

The main alternative route is by train from Central London.

The very fast service to Dover Priory is from London ST Pancras which is next to Kings Cross to the North of Central London and is by high speed train using the channel tunnel rail link for half the way, you can go by normal fast train from London Bridge, Victoria, or Waterloo East but take care some trains of SSY eight cars split into two four car trains at Faversham

All these trains are operated by SouthEastern rail and are good sized trains but avoid hush hours, the high speed St Pancras route costs more and if say your going to then travel by tube you may find it longer.

.it takes an hour but Dover a Priory is not next to the harbour, and the port pier is a long walk down a narrow road over bridges and it has large trucks on it.

So a taxi from the station is advised.

This is why so many choose the DCL bus or organise private transfers as these pull up at the terminal and avoid rush hours, pulling bags on and off trains and into taxis or tubes either end.


Gatwick is to the dough of London do a direct private transfer avoids London. Whilst Heathrow is west London both airports are connected by motorway ( freeway) using M20 M25 and for Gatwick M23.

The famous white cliffs of Dover are port side, East of the Ship, and there is the famous Dover a Castle there as well with stunning views.


I would suggest fly into Gatwick or Heathrow get a train to Central a London stay a few days in the Victoria area sightsee, then either private transfer or train to Dover.


Check in was normal but in a small confined space and so they will stick to PATS there, the terminal is on two floors so slightly bigger than it looks, border control quick, it has a good cafe in it, but you can't really leave again to tour the town without a good walk or a taxi and the road is a commercial truck access route.

I have walked it when we took these photos and not on that cruise and I saw people try to walk it with luggage a in both directions and I would say don't.

The English Channel has high movements in tides and so as the photos show be prepared to walk up steep steps.

You get off fast at Dover but with an hour to any good airport and strict security do not book anything before 1pm, and note one cruise in 2010 changed it's arrival time to 10.30 due to tides.

Some points

Check SouthEastern Train services for any planned engineering work about three months before travel.

London Bridge is having a major infer structure change and can be closed on weekends up to 2018. Its also just beneath the new Shard building the highest in London.

Thank you for helping us plan our trip!

Just started today looking through TripAdvisor. Then, saw your post and found it much more helpful!

Thank you,

Geri

 

[abayaflowers]

Please add us to the list DH, DW, and DD15 & DD12.

We are currently planning our trip to be in London for 4 days and Dover for 2 days.

Researching hotels vs. vacation rentals. We were in the UK last year on our way back from the MedCruise 2013 and found that the Tube was a great way to get around especially the double decker bus.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!